Hair Today Gone Tomorrow

I cut my hair the other week. I didn’t go to a barber. I literally cut my own hair. It didn’t turn out too shabby either. My hair was very long and I wasn’t up for finding a new barber, so I figured if I messed up my hair, I’ll just hide in the woods and let it grow out. When I was finished, my hair was a bit uneven, so Roxanne offered to “clean” it up a bit. I was O.K. with that because if I did a decent job, she’s surely not going to make it worse. Well, it turned out fine, but way too short for my liking. It was too short to comb it the way I have for the last 22 years.

The last time my hair was cut too short for my liking was in the first grade. I hated it so much that I wore a hat for weeks. After that, my dad would take me to the barber who cut his hair. I wanted my hair to be just like my dad’s hair, so I was thrilled to be going to Mr. V’s. It was always a great experience there. His assistant would shampoo my hair and when she was done, Mr. V. would come in and do his magic. I say magic because he would tell me that my hair didn’t lend itself to the style that my dad sported. I insisted that I wanted to look like my dad and he accommodated.

I wore my hair that way until my college years. In the fall of 1985, I had carelessly left my shaving kit in a hotel in Toronto, Canada on a class trip. Being cash strapped, I didn’t have the money to replace what I left behind. That was the humble beginning of the beard. The new facial hair didn’t seem right with my dad’s hairstyle, so I decided to change my hair. It still didn’t work well with the way my hair naturally grew, but it’s what I wanted and, by golly, that’s what I got; a new image to go with the college lifestyle I was creating and enjoying. And so it had been for 22 years.

Back from my trip down memory lane, I began to notice something about my new haircut. The part in my hair was where Mr. V said it was naturally. Even more amazing is that with all the wind, activity, and running my hand through my hair, it was staying in place. I wasn’t spending any time and energy on it to get it to look right. Wow! Imagine that all these years of screwing around with my hair could have been avoided if only I listened to Mr. V! I spent decades battling against the way God had made my hair to grow.

It might be obvious to you where I’m going with this, but if not, here goes… I sigh when I recall how many times I have battled God’s plan for my life and smile when I remember how natural and free and easy it is when I go with what He has designed for me. I spent a lot of energy over the years grooming an identity and lifestyle I created before it became apparent that living out my God-created identity is infinitely more rewarding. At first it was hard, and just like the new haircut, it seemed out of place. “This isn’t me”, I would groan; but the truth is that the persona I had made for myself was a poor representation of the person God had intended for me to be.

Now, the things associated with my self-made identity are being cut off by the Master, and the God-created identity He has carefully crafted for me is becoming clearer. I’m experiencing the more and better life He has intended for me from the beginning, and amazingly, it requires a lot less time and energy to maintain than anything I made for myself.

It’s sort of like a no muss, no fuss lifestyle for me. He has one for you too.

Grace to you.

Dave Paukner